Sinead O’Connor talks about her depression diagnosis

Sinead O’Connor, in an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, has talked about the day she was diagnosed with manic depression.

O’Connor, who has been the center of controversy in the past for ripping up pictures of the pope and being ordained a priest, described the feeling in her life before the diagnosis and afterwards, when the treatment kicked in.

"I would always say I was going round the world and it felt like a tree had f---ing gone through me, do you know, I had a massive f---ing hole in the middle of me, do you know, and I could never get rid of that pain," she told the Morning Herald. "And then from the day I started taking the meds, literally in half an hour, I felt like cement had come and filled in the hole." With medication, she discovered, she could have a life that felt normal.

In the interview, O’Connor lashed out at gossip columnists who criticized her marriage, saying that they were jealous of her talent and her "fantastic arse. Which has been responsible for the conception of my four lovely children, by four lovely men."

Music, O’Connor said, gave her a voice during her difficult childhood. The song she says made her want to become a musician, for example, was Bob Dylan’s ‘Idiot Wind,’ quoting the famous line, “Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth/ You're an idiot, babe/ It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe."

"That was the first time I realised songs were a place where you could say anything at all, the stuff you wouldn't dream of saying in real life," she said.

The singer also pointed out the tattoos that cover her arm.

According to the SMH, on her left arm is Muhammad Ali’s famous quote, "No Viet Cong Ever Called Me Nigger," and on her right is Psalm 91: "That you will not strike your foot."

O’Connor, 43, recently married Irish-Australian guitarist Steve Cooney, who has toured with her for years. It’s her third marriage.